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Show 'Degrees of Ajfent. Book IV; be imprellions he has received from G 0 D Hirhfelf, or from Men fent by Him 1 How can we expefr, I fay, that Opinions rhus fetltd, lhould be given up to the Arguments or Authontl of a Stranger, or Advetfary . efpecially if there be any fufpicion of Interell, or Defign, as there nevef fails to be, where Men lind themfclves ill rrcateJ I We fhould do· well to commiferate our mutual Ignorance, and endeavour ro remove it in all the gentle and f1ir ways ot Inlormorion; and not i.nflantly rteatothers ill; as obllinate and pervetfe, becaufc they wdl not renounce their own, and receive our Opinions, or at !eat! thofe we would force upon them, when 'tis more than probable that we are no lefs obllinare in not embracing theirs. For where is the Man that has unconrellible Evidence of the Truth of all that he holds, or of the 'falfhood of all he condemns ; otcan fay, that he has examined, to th~ bottom,. all his own or other Men's Opinions? The necellity of behevmg, Without knowledge, nay, ofte1t upon very flight grounds, in this flcctin:; fiate· of Action and Blindnefs we are in, fhould make us more bufie and careful to inforln out felves, than conllrain others. At leall, thofc who have not throughly exalnincd to the bottom all their own Tenct5, mull confefs they are unfit to pre• fcribe to others; and are unreafonable m 1m poling that as a Truth ort other Men's Belief, which they themfelvcs have not fearchcd into, ndr wt!lghed the Arguments of Pr?bability, on which they lhotdd receive ot reject it. Thofe who have fmrly and truly exammed,> and are thereby got pall doubt in all the Doctrines they profcfs1 and govern themfelves by, w~uld have a juller pretence to reqmre others to follow them: But · thefe are fo few in number, and find fo httle reafon to be magillerial in their Opinions, that nothing infolent and imperious is to be expeCted from rhem : And there is rea ton to think, th•t if Men were better in• firud:ed themfelves, they would be lefs impofing on others. ~·\"· But to return to the grou~1ds of A~en r, . and the feveral degrees of it we are to take notice, that the PropofitJons we rcce,ve upon In• duc~ments of Pro/;a/;ility, are of' two f orts; either concerning fome par' ticular Exiffence, or, as it is ufually termed, matter of fact, which falling under our Obfervation,. is capable oO humane Tcllimony; or elfe concerning Things, \\•hich being bej•ond the difcovery of our .':ienfcs, arc not capable of any fuch Tellimony. I §. ~· !=oncerning ~heftrjf of thefe, v iz. parti~ular matttr of faE/1 t Fir /I Where any pamcular th1ng, confonant to the oonfiant Obfer• vatibn ~four {elves :inti others,. in· the like cafe, comes :ittefi:ed with the concurrei'it Reports of all th~t mention it , we receive ib as cafily , and build as litmly upon it, as if it were certain· knowledge, and we rcafoli apd 'all there~pon with as little doubt, -. if it were perfect d~monfira> uon. Thus 1f all EngiiP,.men, who have occafion to mengon Lt, lhould affirm, that it froze in England t)le lafi Winter: 'or that there were SwaJI low$ fcdri' there in the Summer, I think a Man could almoftas little doubt of it, as that Seven and Four are Eleven. Thefirll therefore, and higbe/1 degre~,pf' Prov~/;ility,! is, when the general· c_onfent qf ~II· Men, in <1fl Ages, a,s, far a~ 1t ca.n be kn'?ivn ' .. concurrs wLth a Mans conllant and 11ev~r-faihhg i£xl":nencc m hke cafes , to confirm the Truth of any pat'. tieular 'matter of fatl: attefied by· fafr WitnelleS : fuch are all the frated Conllitutions and Properties pf Bodies, and the regular proceedings of Caufes and Effects in t:he ordinary courfe or Nature. This we call an Argument from the nature of Things themfelves. for wh:lt our own and <ltlt~ Men's conllani bbfcrvation, has fou~d always to be after the fame ,-. "J ...... - n. manner Chap. XVI. 'Degreer of .lljfent. manner, that we with reafon concl,ude to be the Effect< of fiedd y and regular Cau.fes,.rhough they come not within the reach of our (\now. ledge. . t hus, That Fire w~rmed a Man, made Lead fluid, and changed the colour or confillency Ill Wood or Charcoal: tllat Iron fun I< in Water a.nd fwam in ~ickfilver: Thefe and tiLC like Propofitions about par: pcular facts, bemg agreeable to our conllant Expcrietjce, as often as we have w do wah thefe f!Jatters ; and being generally fpoke of, (when mentiOned by others,) as dungs found conllantly to be fo, and therefore not fo much as. controverted b:r any body' we are put pall doubt, that:! ~!anon affirmmg. any fuch tlung to have been, or :iny predication that It \\'Ill happen agmn m the fame manner, is very true. The(e Probabil:ties rife fo near to Cmainty,rbat they govern our Thoughts as :ibfolutely, and mfluence all our Act10ns as fully, as the moll evident demonllr:ttion. and in what concerns us, we make little or no diaerence between thet~ ~nd certain . !\now ledge. And uur Belief thus grounded , rifes to AjjiJrancc. ·. §. 7: Secoml!y,ibe lie XI degree of Probability is, when I find by my own Exp~ncnce, and the Agreement of all others that mention it, a thing tO be, lor the moll part, fo; and that the particular inllance of it is ntte· fred by many and undoubted Witnelfes : v.g. Hillary giving us fuch an account of Men ll1 all Ages ; and my own Experience, as far as I had an op: portuniry to obfcrve, confirming it, that moll Men prefer their private .Advantage, to the publiclL If all Hillorians that write of 71/JeriUJ, fay that 7/heriu; did fo, it is extreamly probable. And in this tafe, our Aifent has a ful!icient foundation to raife it felf to a degree, whiCh we may call Confidence. §.8. Thirdly, In matters that happen indifferently, as that a Bird lllOu]d fly this or that way ; that it fhould thunder on a Man"s right or left f!and, &c. when· any particular mat'ter of fact comes attelled by the concurrent Tefiimony of unfufpected Witneifes, there our Aifent iS alfo an': ivoidable. Thus : T hat there is fuch a City in l tafy, as Rome : That abourx7ooyears ago, there lived in it a Man, called Julius cti!jar ; that he was a General, and that he won a Bartel again another talltd Pompry. !his,thm1gh in the nature of the thing, t here be nothing fer ,nor ngainll It ; . yet, being related by Hillorians of credit, and contradicted by no one Wnrcr , a Man cannot avoid believing it·, and can as little doubt of it , as he docs of the Being and Actions of his own Acquaintance, whereof he himfelf is a IVirnefs. &. 9· Thus. far the matter goes ealte enough. Probability upon· fuch grounds carnes fo much evidence with it, that it naturally determines the Judgment, and leaves us as little at liberty to believe, or disbelieve, as a Demonfiration does, whether we will ];how, or be ignorant. The d11liculty 1s, when Tefiimonies contradict common Experience, and the repott of Hillary and Witneffcs clall1es with the ordinary courfe of Nature, or with one another; there it is, where Diligence,Attcntion, and 'Exaetnefs is required, to form a right Judgment, and to 1proporrion the Affent to the different Evidence and Probability of the thing ; which rifes and falls, according as thole two foundations of Credibility;viz. Com· mon Obfervation in like cafes, and particular Tefiimonies in that particular infiancc, favours or contradid:s it. Thefe are liable to fo great vanety of contrary Obfervations, Circumfianccs, Reports, different ~alifi~ tions, Tempers, Defigns, Over-fights, t3c. of the Reporters, that 'tis unpolflblc to reduce to precife Rules, the various degrees wherein Men g1vc thCLr Aifent. This only may be faid in general, That as the Argu- X x mmm 337 |
